Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Mesa mayor: Full steam ahead with Apple facility

Mesa Mayor John Giles at a media briefing May 19 said there could be opportunities for tech giant Apple Inc. to expand in southeastern Mesa.

The former First Solar Inc. facility in Mesa. News came in February that Apple would establish a command center for its global data networks in the building soon after a former tenant, GT Advanced Technologies, declared bankruptcy.(Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic)

Story Highlights

Tech giant Apple Inc. in February announced plans to turn a 1.3 million-square-foot building at Signal Butte and Elliot roads into a warehouse for digital services.

Top-level officials reportedly reaffirmed that commitment when Mesa Mayor John Giles visited them at Apple headquarters.

The center is still expected to create 150 full-time, high-level jobs, plus an additional 300 to 500 contract positions.

The renewed vows were welcome news given the facility’s history; two big visions for the site have already flopped.

If John Giles is worried that Apple Inc.’s planned Mesa command center might go the way of its predecessors, he certainly isn’t showing it.

The Mesa mayor at a press briefing May 19 said he was “more excited than ever” after a recent pilgrimage to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. He recounted at length how the tech giant’s top-level executives had reaffirmed and fine-tuned their commitment to transforming a 1.3 million-square-foot building at Signal Butte and Elliot roads into a warehouse for digital services, such as iCloud storage and iTunes music.

The east Mesa center is still expected to create 150 full-time, high-level jobs, which Giles said likely will be a mix of Cupertino transplants and local talent, plus an additional 300 to 500 contract positions. Apple still plans to invest upwards of $2 billion in the facility within a decade.

“Obviously, the economic impact of just the construction activity is very significant,” Giles said. “But then the ongoing economic impact of the several hundred jobs that will be there, between Apple-badged employees and the contract employees, and the suppliers and the other folks that will be related to Apple — it’s going to be extremely significant.”

The renewed vows were welcome news given the facility’s history. Tempe-based First Solar Inc. initially built the plant intending to hire about 600 people, but that plan never panned out.

To the delight of the city and state, Apple sapphire-glass supplier GT Advanced Technologies Inc. showed up next, with plans to convert the empty space into a bustling factory. But GTAT officials soon filed for bankruptcy, laid off scores of employees and began moving out of the Apple-owned building.

When news came in February that Apple would establish a command center for its global data networks in the same spot, critics immediately began questioning whether a plan that involved hiring hundreds fewer local employees and ultimately occupying only part of the facility should be celebrated. At the time, Giles said he preferred the idea of having Apple itself in Mesa instead of a subcontractor, as it would likely be more stable long-term.

At the May briefing, he urged reporters and viewers to think about the “global scope of the Apple brand and how many millions, if not billions, of people are ... using the Apple cloud operation on a daily, if not hourly, basis,” implying there could be chances for Apple to expand within the enormous plant.

Giles also said simply having the Apple name at the southeastern Mesa site would surely help the city promote its promising Elliot Road Technology Corridor, in turn attracting additional investment and jobs.

“All along that Elliot Road corridor, the city has made substantial investment in terms of utilities and dark fiber. And kitty-corner to that (Apple) facility, the city is spending a little over $200 million on a water-treatment plant,” Giles said. “All of the utility infrastructure — in terms of electricity and all of the other amenities that a large corporation needs to create jobs and to have a significant impact on our community — are already right there.”